Dear NCUC members,
This is my candidate statement for the position of NCUC Chair. I hope
you do not mind if I take a few minutes of your day to speak with you
directly about why I am running for this seat, and what I can bring to
the table.
I hope this is the beginning of an ongoing conversation.
The NCUC is a fantastic group, and this election has great candidates
for all the positions, so we should take this moment to reflect on
what we have accomplished so far and what could be the next steps. I'm
grateful for all of the expressions of support that I received on-list
and privately. It really has been very humbling.
###Experience in ICANN
My first involvement with ICANN was in Buenos Aires for ICANN 53
(2015). At this meeting, I was an ICANN Fellow, and since then I have
joined working groups as an observer, have volunteered widely
throughout the community, and have had the privilege of serving as an
alternate - and have been appointed to important committees, such as
the GNSO’s Standing Selection Committee - as a full, voting member. My
first leadership position within ICANN was as the representative for
Latin America and the Caribbean on the NCUC Executive Committee. If
you sometimes think I talk too much about my region, that’s why. I was
elected to do that and also to help outreach and inreach globally. I
have taken my role on the NCUC Executive Committee very seriously, and
if I was to become Chair, I’d definitely make a point to continue what
I’m doing -- but with a global focus. In addition, I have been an
ICANN Coach and Mentor multiple times. It’s one of my favourite roles.
I love teaching and helping others realise their full potential. It is
why I defend teaching so much and respect acquired experience that I
will always use the wisdom of the veterans and work towards NCUC
goals. I also understand NCUC goals and our limited mission which is
to work on domain name policy and not always broader internet
governance issues.
###Vision of ICANN and NCUC
ICANN is a great Internet policy space, and specialising in
DNS-related themes is a pathway towards understanding much larger
issues which would greatly benefit from civil society engagement and
energy. The NCUC has grown significantly since I joined, and this is
definitely due to the amazing commitment and inspiration that our
members instill in newcomers of this group. The NCUC is dynamic and
combative, being vocal when there are truths which need to be spoken.
Not only is NCUC "the conscience" of ICANN but also its arms and legs;
without the movement that civil society brings to debates on Internet
policy issues, ICANN would have no destiny.
###Short, mid and long term goals
I have been reflecting deeply on whether or not I should accept this
nomination. It was not an easy decision for me to make, because I have
really enjoyed serving my region on the Executive Committee, and I
knew that I would only be reading to step forward and take on the role
of Chair if I thought I could really bring something new to the table.
I think that I can, and I’d like to explain to you what that is. The
role of the Chair is to work with the other elected Executive
Committee members to strengthen the NCUC's strategic plan. It
requires a strong coach to help mould the other members into being
good teachers themselves, and it requires someone who can help build
consensus. I have experience in doing both of these things. There are
also a few actions which I believe NCUC leadership can work together
with our energised members to achieve mutual goals.
Short-term goal: My immediate priority if elected will be to increase
our in-reach efforts. We’ve got so many great members, and I want to
help people like you become more engaged in our policy work. I’ll
begin by mapping out NCUC members who are involved in working groups,
and then I’ll see what skill gaps exist and what knowledge and
interests others have which are not being utilised. In 2018, the need
for this work is growing in urgency because the NCUC has updated its
bylaws and developed new operating procedures. The time is now to
harness YOU and all that you bring to the table, so we can have more
and more successes in the ICANN policy space. We'll also work together
for putting into practice projects NCUC has started recently, like our
policy writing course.
Mid-term goal: I will look to build an ideal quotient of participation
in working groups, aiming to redistribute the workload among our
currently active volunteers so to reduce burn-out. I believe that the
NCUC leadership should work more closely with the NCSG’s Policy
Committee, helping build effective participation in working groups and
creating process flows to help manage volunteers workload.
Long-term goal: I will work on following and applying our operating
procedures for the NCUC. My idea is to focus on how can we routinely,
and without missing anyone, consistently run our in-reach and outreach
capacity building efforts? I will also explore innovative new
strategies for expanding the NCUC budget. Together with member
collaboration we will apply for grants, find new donors, and expand
our travel support programme and the NCUC Fellowship.
###About me
I'm from the northeast of Brazil. I live in Fortaleza, Ceará state.
Here I'm a researcher, teacher, and founder of a research collective.
I am very involved in Internet governance activities outside of ICANN.
You might already know that I am on the Multistakeholder Advisory
Group of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, where I am a
voice for civil society. Other communities I participate in are the
Internet Freedom Festival, and the Fórum da Internet do Brasil
(Internet Governance Forum Brazil). I have participated in Schools of
Internet Governance in Brazil, India, and the United States. I earned
a PhD in education from the Catholic University of São Paulo in 2012.
Prior to this, I lived in the United Kingdom for 4 years and studied
my Master’s degree at the University of Westminster, graduating in
2003. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from PUC-SP 1998.
I maintain a blog in Portuguese:
I keep my ICANN Statement of Interest updated:
Dear All,
please find my statement below. I am sorry to be long but it demonstrates the complexity level our constituency has reached. For a better lisibility, you can read the document on google drive here[docs.google.com] (read-only).
* Name, declared region of residence, gender, employment, other volunteering experience
Farell FOLLY, Africa, Male, IT Security Expert – Network Engineer; Technology Champion of Africa 2.0 Foundation (www.africa2point0.org[africa2point0.org])
* Any conflicts of interest: None.
1. Why?
The NCUC is an important actor within the ICANN ecosystem. As you know, we are the voice of all “potential” domain name registrants and non-commercial Internet users. We advocate for the rights of consumers, non-commercial entities, and individual users of the Domain Name System. Today, the NCUC is bigger than ever and dealing with more and more consequential issues. From a recent report on ICANN diversity data[afnic.fr], ICANN must acknowledge this evolution, and if the NCUC handles this diversity issue in an elegant and appropriate way, we can become a model for others to follow. Becoming more diverse will also help make more democratic decisions, foster richer debate, create more efficient policy, and build greater institutional legitimacy and vitality. I want to serve on the Executive Committee as your Chair to promote diversity across our membership, discussions and leadership positions -- and show the rest of the ICANN community what we are doing right.
2. About me
I have a Master of Sciences in Telecommunications and Computer Networks from the Royal Military Academy of Brussels, Belgium, where I lived for seven years from 2001 – 2008. I had a field grade of Capt when I worked for the United States Africa Command stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. I was working group chairman and technical director of the Africa Endeavour program which aims at improving communication interoperability among armed forces from Africa, US, and NATO countries. When I left the army as an active officer, I worked in the telecommunications regulatory area, ICT promotion and Internet governance; and have many times chaired workings groups and organized conferences/workshops.
My journey into the ICANN community began in 2013 when I met the former CEO, Fadi Chehadé, at IGF 2013 and discussed diversity issues. However, as a network engineer, I started working with IANA a long time ago to implement IPv4 networks with its supporting protocols. I began contributing in ICANN ASO through my membership in the Africa Internet Registry (AFRINIC) in 2012. Subsequently, I entered the DNS area with discussions on ccTLDs and realized that still much more work needed to be done in this field compare to IP domain which was mostly concerned about the migration from IPv4 to IPv6. Consequently, I responded to the GNSO call in 2015 for volunteers to contribute to the next-Gen RDS PDP.
Last year, while working for the United Nations in Mali, I decided to pursue a PhD in Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (IoT). In fact, many recent reports proved once more that DNS implementation are very (if not the most) concerned with cyberattacks within the Internet ecosystem, while IoT tends to complexify the situation.
3. Time commitment
As a researcher I have a flexible timetable and can devote as much time as is needed to accomplish NCUC tasks, such as preparing for meetings, conferences, and outreach events. In general, I will make myself available for at least 10 hours per week, and up to 20 hours if needed, to grow the NCUC.
4. Communication
My communication strategy will adapt to the three types of audiences that the NCUC encompasses: newcomers, (engaged) members, and the global community/others stakeholders.
When I joined the NCUC, I found it very difficult as a newcomer to understand the ecosystem. I did not want my hand held, however, without an intrinsic motivation, I firmly believe that no newcomer can reach an acceptable level of engagement. I recognize the efforts of the current leadership team to implement the onboarding program, the FAQ, and focal points to coach newcomers, but I think there is still room for improvement. Therefore, I will use monthly webinars targeted at newcomers so that EC and focal points can discuss the NCUC’s mission and objectives with them, and they can also express their own views and positions, so that an efficient coaching mechanism can be launched at an earlier stage of their membership.
With all engaged members, discussions will happen using the traditional discussion lists, webinars, periodic meetings and any other channel that seems appropriate for a particular situation (Adobe, Skype, WhatsApp, etc.). The more a member shows engagement to the NCUC, the more likely he/she is to receive a grant or travel support which he/she applies for. Decision-making processes will always be democratic, transparent, and objective.
Our website, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook will be used to reach out and engage more with the community. Capacity building and outreach events will be conducted periodically and assessed to ensure they are successful. I will encourage engaged members to maintain blogs and talk about their work engagement in order to demonstrate to others what they are doing within our community that reflects NCUC mission.
5. Plan and goals
I will focus on fostering diversity, membership efficiency, setting up a roadmap for the NCUC, and on fundraising to ensure our long-term sustainability and the enlargement of our endowment so that we can support the participation of more and more members to attend ICANN meetings.
About the roadmap
The most critical thing I will work on after being sworn in as Chair is setting up a clear roadmap for the NCUC. In fact, we have already updated our bylaws and written for the first time our operational procedures, with thanks to the current leadership and their determination to achieve that. What we now need is to have a steady leadership and management capacity. For me, that means that we need to set up at least a five-year agenda (the timescale can be discussed later) associated with our vision and objectives. EC term is a maximum of two consecutive one-year terms, that is quite enough but if we keep letting the Chair decide the mid- and long-term goals for the constituency, we’ll keep changing goals every election, and this will compromise our efficiency. Once we have our roadmap, all newly elected Chairs must reasonably comply with this vision, but they will of course have the autonomy to chart the course to achieve the objectives using their own methods, means, and style. Setting up a longer-term agenda for the NCUC will be a collaborative work with all the members, and it can be reviewed periodically to cope with changes in the ecosystem. Policies related to users/data privacy and human rights will have a bigger place in that agenda.
Diversity
Diversity will guide every single decision I take as Chair. Following the recent report of ICANN on diversity[community.icann.org], I would like the NCUC be the model and reference point for diversity within Internet governance ecosystem. We cannot continue talking on behalf of the vast majority of Internet users we claim to defend without increasing their means to engage with us. Those “potential” Internet users are mostly non-native English speakers, living in developing countries with a very weak Internet access and are to be affected by most of our decisions. Language barriers prevent many of our current NCUC members from fully participating in discussions. I am a candidate that intends to represent and promote that diversity. If I am elected as chair I will increase our diversity using the following ICANN and community-recognized set of criteria[community.icann.org]:
- Geographical origin: to make sure that everybody counts, especially under-represented voices.
- Language: during my term as chair, I will work on implementing means to facilitate spontaneous discussions in two or more languages (out of the seven ICANN recognised languages) within the discussions lists.
- Gender: we will seek gender balance among our membership, leading by example
- Backgrounds and Ideology: I will seek for balance between all kind of members: technical, legal, lawyers, academic, sociologist, journalists, random users, arts, etc.
- Last but not least, openness is also a very critical criterion for diversity. It will favor newcomers, women membership and youth innovation.
It is also recognised that there are other forms of diversity (including age, professional experience, sexual orientation, nationality, parents); the above criteria is not set in stone nor should it be seen as fixed.
Membership
Our membership is so critical to our growth because it can offer us the human resources and the skills required to accomplish our mission. Therefore, it won’t be enough to solely rely on the number of members. I will measure my success not by growing our membership, but by making sure we have the right people in our constituency, and that they are ready to work and to deliver the necessary changes. Focal points will have a crucial role in engaging with members in policy discussions and will lead NCUC sub-teams to get involved in their associated area of expertise. Consequently, call for public comments will be directed to sub-teams first, before proceeding in a reasonably hierarchical manner throughout the membership, NCSG Policy Committee, and Executive Committee. In addition, internal mechanisms to recognize the efforts of valuable people will be put in place in order to stimulate and reward active engagement. Furthermore, we will have set metrics to approve outreach events, and equally, metrics to assess their effectiveness and return on investment.
Funding
The organization is getting bigger but our endowment and resources are not growing at the same pace. Consequently, we need to work on a funding plan that will support our agenda. Together with the EC, we’ll work on how we can get more funding. I am sure that several members, myself included, have strong networking connections that we can leverage to raise funds.
--
Regards
@__f_f__
https://www.linkedin.com/in/farellf[linkedin.com]
I will try to keep it as short as possible.I’ve been on the list for more than 5 years but i never intervened as i was serving on the AFRINIC board and i felt it would be a conflict of interest and interpreted as a board member from an RIR giving views. So as much as it is i try to be as much as ethical about these matters. I leave personal judgement behind and look at the house in a view that the NCUC takes a different turn and re-achieves its glaring light not with the judgement that other houses pass on to GNSO and all its constituencies within.
I am from Mauritius but that does not make me less african than any african countries. I have always believed in the potential of human beings there are no lesser ones as we are equal and opportunities and learning that makes us different in our knowledge and understanding. Cultural differences is what makes the garden bloom and looks beautiful and bring the natural delight of different views to the table.
I’ve been on all five WT so far and at times i feel frustrated that we cannot a iota. There are big numbers of people on list that i have had pleasure to meet. Be up with the difference of thinking which is understandable and if everyone were to think the same way perhaps there would be nothing interesting. I also am a member of the ALAC as much as NCSG. But my background of the internet involvement started from the AFRINIC RIR. I spent a year as Nomcom and i ended on the list to be elected as Board. I learned one thing you never know enough and you keep learning, i chaired the finance and also audit committees. My background has those knowledges as i walked through it, ISOC was my other love that i believe in and got to be one of the Moderators.
In ending i will not say or even dare say what my vision or objectives will be because i see challenges everywhere and within a leadership position our personal views are also dictated by its membership it is not a one person show but i believe and stand the view that a Chair helps drive and ensure the stability by listening, understanding and then make up the right views in the interest of all. We never can keep all happy but it surely states that it is not a position of dictatorship but of listening and guidance and i of all like to see consensus before moving but surely when its a fight it needs order and compassion and understanding all because of cultural challenges.
This is the only statement i bring forward as i believe in being practical and objective.
I take this time to thank Fouad who has belief in me and ability. I also believe in the abilities of the many others as well and humbly request everyone to be objective in their decision be it me or others i respect that notion as we are freewill people.
Thank you again as we fight for a better internet which is a challenge more and more these days. Have a nice week-end to all.
